San Antonio — Pipeline company NuStar Energy LP announced Tuesday that Curt Anastasio, who has served as CEO of the company since 2001, will retire effective Dec. 31.

Anastasio will be succeeded by Brad Barron, NuStar's executive vice president and general counsel.

Anastasio became CEO of NuStar in 2001, when the company went public, the company said in a statement. Since that time, NuStar has grown from 160 employees to 1,800; from $387 million in assets to $5.6 billion; and from $99 million in revenues to $6 billion.

“While the last few years have been challenging, Curt continually looked out for all of our stakeholders,” NuStar Chairman Bill Greehey said in a written statement. Anastasio, he added, “led the company out of some very big challenges without any layoffs,” and he has increased the total unitholder value by more than 34 percent this year.

Anastasio said that after 12 years at NuStar's CEO, “my wife and I are looking forward to spending more time with our children and other family members, who mostly live in the northeast and on the East Coast.”

He said he will maintain is primary residence in San Antonio and he plans to stay involved in the community.

For his part, Barron has approximately 20 years of industry experience dating back to his years in private practice, the company said. Barron began his career with NuStar 12 years ago and has served as NuStar's general counsel for more than six years.

Barron's “experience and skill sets make him uniquely qualified to step in and lead NuStar into the future,” Greehey said.

“Brad has sound insight, is a good negotiator and a great consensus builder,” Greehey said. “He works well with individuals in all areas of the company and is known for moving the ball forward, while maintaining high morale and camaraderie.”